Preparation

Into a bowl sift together the flour, the baking powder, the baking soda, and the salt. In a large bowl with an electric mixer cream the butter with the sugars until the mixture is light and fluffy and beat in the vanilla, the eggs, 1 at at time, the zest, the banana, and the sour cream. Add the flour mixture, beat the batter until it is just combined, and stir in the macadamia nuts and the coconut. Divide the batter among 5 well-buttered and floured 5 3/4- by 3 1/4-inch loaf pans and bake the breads in the middle of a preheated 350°F. oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Remove the breads from the pans and let them cool, right sides up, on a rack.

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If I substitute I usually keep it to myself, but I have been making these every Christmas since the recipe was originally published (gosh, 22 years?) I have, when I couldn't find/afford macadamia nuts substituted Brazil nuts to very good effect.

erinmalloy from Westchester, NY / 01.03.14

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Best Banana Bread I've ever made! I followed
a few reviewer suggestions and used 4 very
ripe bananas and did not toast the coconut.
Made a very moist bread. I didn't have any
macadamia nuts, but sounds like a good
addition.

A Cook from Oregon / 11.01.12

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SO delicious! Agree with other reviewers about using 4 vs 3 bananas -- 4 actually yielded 1 1/3 cups, so the original must have used huge bananas.
Made a few other substitutions and changes, too:
Ground up the macadamias instead of chopping them, used lime zest instead of lemon, substituted 4 oz of the butter with 3 oz hazelnut oil and 1 oz walnut oil, and used 1 lightly packed cup brown sugar to counteract the sweetness of the bananas.
Baked 12 muffins and one ring cake. Muffins took 20 minutes, ring cake took about 40.

cardamommy from SF, CA / 05.19.12

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I left out the nuts completely and added dark raisins in their place and baked it in 2 medium loaf pans in a 350 oven for just about 35 minutes. One we ate right away and the other we froze. The frozen one actually was moister than the one eaten fresh. My husband took it to work and it was gone in about 10 minutes. I think leaving out the nuts and adding moist raisins helped keep it from being too dry.

rn1970 from Box Elder, SD / 06.09.11

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This was very good! The kids loved it! The lemon and sour cream add a nice refreshing kick to it! Might add a bit more lemon next time for even more zing! I did not toast the coconut and it was still very good. Probably will toast next time just to see the difference.

A Cook / 12.02.10

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This was very good! The kids loved it! The lemon and sour cream add a nice refreshing kick to it! Might add a bit more lemon next time for even more zing! I did not toast the coconut and it was still very good. Probably will toast next time just to see the difference.

A Cook / 12.02.10

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This was very good! The kids loved it! The lemon and sour cream add a nice refreshing kick to it! Might add a bit more lemon next time for even more zing! I did not toast the coconut and it was still very good. Probably will toast next time just to see the difference.

A Cook / 12.02.10

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This was very good! The kids loved it! The lemon and sour cream add a nice refreshing kick to it! Might add a bit more lemon next time for even more zing! I did not toast the coconut and it was still very good. Probably will toast next time just to see the difference.

A Cook / 12.02.10

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This was very good! The kids loved it! The lemon and sour cream add a nice refreshing kick to it! Might add a bit more lemon next time for even more zing! I did not toast the coconut and it was still very good. Probably will toast next time just to see the difference.

A Cook / 12.02.10

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After reading others' reviews, I used 1&
1 /2 cups coconut and 4 large bananas.
The result was a very moist, dense,
favorful bread with a definate banana
flavor. I used lime zest in place of
lemon. I did have to bake it 48 minutes
for it to be completely cooked through.